Beyond the Food, Fun & Festivals: Using OER’s and Other Educational Resources to Incorporate Multicultural Curriculum into Online Courses

• What are the basics of  Multicultural & Anti Racist Curriculum

  • Interactive scaffolding activity - Marker Talk

  • Multicultural education prepares students for citizenship in a diverse & democratic society. Multicultural education teaches students to consider the needs of all individuals, as it clarifies how issues of race, ethnicity, culture, language, religion, gender, and abilities/disabilities are intertwined with educational processes and content. https://education.byu.edu/diversity/curriculum.html

    • Teaches diverse traditions & perspectives.

    • Challenges/ questions stereotypes

    • Recognizes the contributions of all groups

  • Anti Racist Education is the practice of identifying, challenging, and changing the values, structures, and behaviors that perpetuate systemic racism.

  • Anti Racist Education is an active way of seeing and being in the world, in order to transform it. Because racism occurs at all levels and spheres of society (and can function to produce and maintain exclusionary "levels" and "spheres"), anti-racism education/activism is necessary in all aspects of society. In other words, it does not happen exclusively in the workplace, in the classroom, or in selected aspects of our lives. http://www.aclrc.com/antiracism-defined

    • Addresses histories and experiences of individuals who have traditionally been left out of the curriculum

    • Prioritizes consideration of race and racism

    • Challenges hegemony, power structures that impact equality & equity

    • Examines the voices that are heard and unheard in education

    • Explores how cultural, social and educational institutions contribute to inequality

  • MCE and ARE include similar content and activities as that both curricula are designed to develop more positive intergroup attitudes and pride in heritage. However, ARE's major goal is to end racism in individuals and institutions or at least enable them to be less racist. ARE, therefore, addresses the historical roots of racial prejudice and discrimination by directly confronting "prejudice through the discussion of past and present racism, stereotyping, and discrimination in society. It teaches the economic, structural and historic roots of inequality" (McGregor, 1993, p. 2).

    • Morelli, P. T. T., & Spencer, M. S. (2000). Use and Support of Multicultural and Antiracist Education: Research-Informed Interdisciplinary Social Work Practice. Social Work, 45(2), 166–175. https://doi-org.ezp.tccd.edu/10.1093/sw/45.2.166

• How we implement Multicultural & Anti Racist Curriculum into our respective disciplines?

  • Create lessons/ units that include/ highlight “nontraditional” voices

  • Speech/ Communication Studies:

    • Incorporate examples of public address that highlight the voices of people of color, social movements, oppressed communities.

    • For example, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address can be studied along with speeches from Maria Miller Stewart, the first African American woman to speak publicly in the 1800’s (See Words of Fire by Beverly Guy-Sheftall). Couple this with discussions of the perspectives of black women, intersection, women’s rights then versus now, etc.

    • Persuasive speech unit that utilizes immigrant activists who deliver speeches to advocate for immigrants rights coupled with political speeches that address the immigration debate (see speeches from Disposable Domestics by Grace Chang or Remaking Citizenship by Kathleen Coll)

    • A unit on speeches of Native Americans coupled with research presentations that center around issues within the Native American & Indigenous community (See Great Speeches by Native Americans by  Bob Blaisdell or Engendered Encounters by Margret D. Jacobs).

  • Human Resources:

    • A unit on diversity in the workplace, discussing the tendency of diversity discussions to be “black and white,” often excluding various protected groups. The purpose of this unit and the activity is to strengthen cultural consciousness and to combat various forms of racial discrimination. Students are prompted to discuss why other groups (e.g. Native Americans) aren’t included in these discussions surrounding inclusion, with documented sources to support their stance.  (Hinton, 2007)

    • Student observation:  In the beginning of the course, students share a bit about themselves, the challenges they have in the online classroom and how they best succeed.  This information is taken and incorporated into the class, to ensure “equitable pedagogy” as defined by James A. Banks. Content is also culturally sensitive and celebratory (pictures, scenarios, names etc).  (Kolb, David 2014) (Brant, 2004)

    • Active Learning:  In an article by Scott Freeman et. al, it is suggested that evidence shows that active learning benefits students of color and other protected groups.  While the focus of this article focuses on STEM disciplines, being that many students in online courses are nontraditional and underrepresented it is worth considering across all subjects.  In the Human Resource Management courses, active learning strategies such as scaffolding are used. Students are asked to self-assess their knowledge of the subject and identify what they would like to learn.  Content and open educational resources are included to help the build on their knowledge as well as address topics of interest. Also, many of the lessons build from previous lessons, requiring students to build on concepts they’ve learned and explore deeper.  Students will choose a position to profile at the beginning of the course, develop a job description, then a recruitment plan for the position, then a selection process, next a training plan until the end of the course where they identify a compensation plan. This is just an example of how to engage them in the process, reinforce concepts in interactive ways, and have tangible knowledge to follow them after course completion. (Freeman et all, 2011)

 

• Math: Can I be a multicultural educator in math?
  Take a moment and reflect on the following questions:

• Do certain students more than others avoid math or feel disconnected from the subject?

  • If you haven’t tried teaching math as a multicultural educator, what do you imagine to be the challenges?

  • If you have tried teaching math as a multicultural educator, what challenges have you experienced?

• One way educators approach math from a multicultural perspective is by highlighting particular people or achievements from various racial, ethnic, or gendered groups. Usually this strategy is used to diversify the mathematics curriculum that typically elevates the primacy of a Eurocentric or male focus. While this approach has some value in diversifying the curriculum, in the absence of a critical stance to teaching math, the approach can fall short of a more comprehensive understanding of the role of multicultural education in math.

• In order to open and extend fruitful learning opportunities for all students/learners, being a mathematics multicultural educator is important, relevant, and doable. Multicultural educators in mathematics generally engage the following stances when implementing mathematics in the classroom:

  • (a) Attention to and use of culture towards understanding the cultural contexts that shape mathematics;

  • (b) An equity-orientation that facilitates access to math for all students; and

  • (c) Efforts to leverage the skills and content of mathematics to advance justice in schools and communities.

• Discuss how math can been facilitated through culture, equity, and justice.

  • Culture: Build on the use of culture in mathematics - ethnomathematics and funds of knowledge (develop students’ mathematical understanding by using their cultural and social referents to center their experiences in the learning process).

  • Equity: Address the question - Why are certain groups overrepresented or underrepresented in mathematics classrooms or careers? Attached to that question is who deserves access to quality math experiences? Males? Advance placement students only? English-only speakers?Although a student’s aptitude for math may be an actual factor, in many cases it’s an issue of systemic denial of opportunities or quality teaching/learning environments that hamper students’ participation in meaningful math experiences

  • Justice: As a tool for justice, math educators can utilize their content to not only support students’ academic mastery but also support teaching students how they can use their content in powerful ways for change. They can use their skills to identify and analyze real issues and take action. Three examples of strong curricula that work justice in mathematics are: The Algebra Project, Rethinking Mathematics, and Radical Math

In the overall analysis, strong multicultural educators embody a cultural, equity-oriented, and justice-focused stance in their teaching of their content area. No curriculum content is neutral. Curriculum is not free from a point of view and a set of values that shape how subject matter is constructed. Neither are teachers who teach the curriculum (

• Breakout discussions: How can you apply and implement elements of Multicultural & Anti Racist curriculum into your online courses?

 

Resources:

https://education.byu.edu/diversity/curriculum.html

http://www.aclrc.com/antiracism-defined

Morelli, P. T. T., & Spencer, M. S. (2000). Use and Support of Multicultural and Antiracist Education:

Research-Informed Interdisciplinary Social Work Practice. Social Work, 45(2), 166–175.

https://doi-org.ezp.tccd.edu/10.1093/sw/45.2.166

Eastern Kentucky University (2007). Multicultural Education Online For Graduate Teachers: Some Challenges. 51st Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society. [online] p.9. Available at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED495857.pdf [Accessed 2 Jun. 2019].

 

Kolb, D. A., Rubin, I. M., & McIntyre, J. M. (1984). Organizational psychology: readings on human behavior in organizations. Prentice Hall.

 

Brandt, R. (2019). On Educating for Diversity: A Conversation with James A. Banks - Educational Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may94/vol51/num08/On-Educating-for-Diversity@-A-Conversation-with-James-A.-Banks.aspx

 

Freeman, S., Haak, D., HilleRisLamber, J., & Pitre, E. (2011). Increased Structure and Active Learning Reduce the Achievement Gap in Introductory Biology. Retrieved from https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/41212/files/5455562/download?verifier=RXuwKwz7YcZTesmF86qToMhzJMKBYgOqGpSBRRcG&wrap=1

 

Bhatia, A., Bhatia, A., Conniff, R., Woo, W., Oberhaus, D., & Kaufman, A. et al. (2014). Active Learning Leads to Higher Grades and Fewer Failing Students in Science, Math, and Engineering. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2014/05/empzeal-active-learning/

 

D’Ambroio, U. (1997). Foreword. In A. B. Powell & M. Frankenstein (Eds.), Ethnomathematics:             Challenging eurocentrism in mathematics education. New York: State University of New York Press.

Dornoo, M. (2015). Teaching mathematics education with cultural competency. Multicultural Perspectives, 17(2), 81-86.

Gutstein, E., & Peterson, B. (Eds.) (2013). Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.

Jao, L. (2012). The multicultural mathematics classroom. Multicultural Education, 19(3), 2-10.

Lemons-Smith, S. (2013). Tapping into the intellectual capital of Black children in mathematics: Examining the practices of preservice elementary teachers. In J. Leonard & D. B. Martin (Eds.), The brilliance of Black children in mathematics: Beyond the numbers and toward new discourse (pp 323-339). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishers.

Leonard, J., Brooks, W., Barnes - Johnson, J., & Berry, R. Q. (2010). The Nuances and Complexities of Teaching Mathematics for Cultural Relevance and Social Justice. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(3), 261-270

Moses, R & Cobb, C., Jr. (2001). Radical equations: Math literacy and Civil Rights. Boston: Beacon Press.